GESCHLECHTER BUCH: Darinn der Loblichen Kaiserliche Reichs Statt AUGSPURG so vor Funffhundert und mehr Jaren hero daselbst gewonet ..

Franckfort am Mayn (ie Frankfurt): Sigmund Feyrabend Buchhandler, 1580. Hardcover. Very Good-. Large scene of knight in armour on titlepage + full-page allegorical plate of three graces and flying Mercury signed I A [Jost Amman] & MF +156 full-page woodcuts of men in armour with their shield coats of arms.. Folio in morocco spined boards (tips bit worn). Title in red & black + 2pp (preface and intro) + captioned full page plate as half title (numbered p3) +4-162pp +[2]pp (colophon with large printer's emblem and blank verso), but seems to lack a final blank leaf. At page 55 is a full-page half title with over 30 figures while at page 103 and 145 are divisional titles with large decorative tailpieces. This divides the men in armour into 4 parts and the last plate in each section has a monogram CW for Christoph Weiditz. Generally a very clean crisp copy, except for light browning of titlepage, final blank and a few other leaves, small brown marks on last page not affecting colophon, and light marks of former damp in top margin of a few pages. An early owner has written some 20 of the familial names in neat script above the ornate gothic printed names. The pages have good margins and strong impressions of these fine plates. Examples of the many famous families depicted are members of the Fugger, Pfister, Sattelin, Vogelin, Ravenspurger families. Coat of arms bookplate of Fr. Franc. Paul de Smitmer dated 1770 to pastedown + a later small name Gzell and partial date to flyleaf (see Fairfax Murray 49, Brunet I,235). *All 156 full-page woodcuts by CW (Christoph Weiditz 1498-1559) appeared in the earlier work cited by Brunet, "Bericht und antzaigen der loblichen Statt Augspurg aller Herren Geschlecht" (Augsburg 1550) which was edited by Paul Hector Mair. Mair was an Augsburg civil servant, active in martial arts, who lived beyond his means. Convicted of embezzlement, he was hanged in 1579 at the age of 62. The Gesclechter Buch was published in Frankfurt the following year, with the woodcuts used by Mair 30 years earlier. It repeats the words of his 1550 introduction but does not name him.